The Last Detective by Robert Crais
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This might be the great American detective novel.
It perfectly captures the spirit of the genre:
It is a once-in-a-series opportunity for Elvis Cole to solve a deeply personal mystery, and it delivers on
all fronts. The mystery is pernicious, and is solved by honest-to-god detective work.
There are actual consequences for character actions. The characters* emerge at the end
changed from how they were at the beginning. (And I trust Robert Crais to carry these changes through
the series). But really, what makes this novel work is that it presents the detective as hero: Intelligent,
determined, and in the end, indomitable. This world is the kind of world I want to live in.
The only (minor) negative is that the main threat never quite feels fully threatening,
but this quite forgivable in the face of how awesome everything else is.
* Except, perhaps, Joe Pike, which is as it should be.
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